THE 3 exercise practices women need for ultimate health

Adele Stickland

In this blog you will discover the 3 practices that you need to ensure your health and vitality. If you are a woman over the age of 40 you need to ensure that you get a good amount of cardio, weight bearing AND resistance training. PLUS you need to ensure that you are obtaining the type of exercise that helps you to revitalise, which means calming your thoughts and clearing your head

This blog will cover exercise for women over 40. The type of exercise that makes you strong and healthy. Women need to vary their exercise routines weekly to obtain the best weight loss and health results. I will show you 3 x gorgeous types of exercise you need.

Up until you reach age 30 your muscles continue to grow larger and stronger. But as you approach 40 and beyond you begin to lose muscle mass, up to 3 to 5 percent each decade if you are not active. Even if you are active, you continue to lose muscle mass, but at a much slower rate.

What prompted me to write this blog is because I see gorgeous girls specialising in one particular exercise, the one you adore. You choose the exercise you enjoy the most and you do that, and only that. Your muscles are strong, but only for that sport. I want you to love your exercise, get outside and feel that sunshine or wind upon your face and feel alive. But mixing it up is a requirement for women over 40.

If you are sticking to the one exercise routine you are over exercising those particular muscles which in turn leads to a loss of flexibility in those muscles and tendons. Muscles shorten and then they don’t function properly. That increases the risk for muscle cramps and pain, muscle damage, strains, joint pain, and even falling.

If you regularly attend the same class with the same routine you are not benefiting from the exercise anymore. Ladies you need to mix it up, variety is the spice of life and your well being.

Cardio

Let’s start with cardio, everybody knows you need cardio exercises to keep on top of your weight. But the type of cardio you choose is important. Firstly you need to enjoy it.

Running: Personally, I love running but believe me, I am not brilliant at it. When you enter a race they give you a medal. The medal is for taking part not for coming first, second or even 203rd! I love it because it is spending time outdoors (which I would never have said aged 20) and then being able to get home and get on with my ‘to do’ list

HIIT: I especially hate HIIT! but hey you may love it.

HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a training technique in which you give all-out, 100% effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short, sometimes active, recovery periods. It keeps your heart rate up and burns more fat in less time. Because HIIT is so high intensity your body’s need for oxygen during the effort means you create an oxygen shortage.

Whilst HIIT requires just minutes of your time, it has reported to increase your growth hormone and help reduce your insulin resistance.I just don’t buy it, all exercise is going to make you more insulin resistance and resistance training will grow your muscles maybe not as effectively as HIIT.

BUT my BIG issue is that you have to be fit BEFORE you try HIIT, it is like squash or trying BodyPump out for the first time. If you haven’t got an ‘average’ level of fitness HIIT will kill you off. I am talking about the traditional type of HIIT – you know burpees on the floor then standing up. The type of exercise that makes you feel sick!

Saying that you can adapt the cardio you do to make a HIIT variation. You simply speed walk as fast as you can, time yourself for 30 seconds and then rest by continuing to walk. Now that sounds like more like it 😉

Aerobic/Hi-Lo/BodyCombat classes

There are so many and they are SUCH FUN! Once you have gotten over the fact that NOBODY is watching you, everyone in the class is in their own private torment you can shake loose and let out your inner diva and shine. Try a variety of classes and let me know which ones you love

Resistance

I can’t ‘stress’ enough the importance of weight training or resistance training to women. Both my grandmothers had osteoporosis and weight-bearing exercise is THE best way to help to prevent it.

As you age, you lose muscle mass. Strength training builds it back and regular strength training will help you feel more confident and help you stay gorgeous.

Strengthening your muscles not only makes you stronger, but it also stimulates your bone growth (osteogenic effect), lowers your blood sugar, assists with weight control, improves balance and posture, and reduces stress and pain in the lower back and joints.

“Walking is a great form of exercise, and a valuable way to increase physical activity on a daily basis, it is not enough of a stimulus for maintaining Bone Mineral Density (Martyn-St James & Carroll, 2008).

Revitalise

Your mind/body connection is important to your health. Pilates like Yoga or Tai Chi doesn’t only sculpt your body but it also clears your mind and gives you energy and inner serenity.

A mindful exercise class which includes stretching will help your well being and calm your senses. Slow flowing movement is a gateway to mindfulness and meditation. For me, Pilates is the perfect distraction to my busy schedule.

“Concentrate on one thing – YOU, is, in essence, the definition of meditation”

Stretching helps maintain your flexibility and give your muscles a longer, leaner shape. It also increases your range of motion and reduces pain and your risk of injury. Reducing your stress with mind-body exercise improves your nervous system and a healthy nervous system means better communication between your brain and other parts of your body as well as the release of stress-fighting and mood-boosting hormones.

Reality & Practicality: Mixing your exercise up so you can incorporate two elements in one is great. For instance, Pilates with weights will satisfy 2 criteria, walking at varying speeds with hand weights will aid with your strength and cardio.

POST your comments below and let me know which exercises you enjoy and how you incorporate them into your day and week?

If you would like to find a clearer path to a clearer more gorgeous mindset, together with a healthy nutritional plan and exercise that works for you. If you are ready for change and want a focused goal then feel free to apply for some time with me click here and apply for your personal session now.

You and I can talk through your mindset health blocks, understand what is pulling you away from your health goals. By the end of the call, you’ll know exactly what you need to do get your health goals in place. Once you are clear on that, we can discuss ways that I can help you to get your plan your health strategy in easy steps.

We may decide to work together to help you reach your health goals successfully – and if so great – if not then that’s okay too. You’ll still have a clear plan to move your life forward.

Find out what other gorgeous girls have to say…

“I can highly recommend working with Adele for health, fitness, and weight loss issues. Her advice is clear, practical and simple to follow and what she doesn’t know about health and nutrition probably isn’t worth knowing! With her kind and caring nature and approach, she is always in your corner to give you support. Give her a call you won’t go far wrong”

[…] Having begun the process of edging in a new nutritional habit you will start to feel better and more energised then you can move onto to tackle more activity. Generally working towards 10,000 steps a day is a great way to begin to get more active. Then moving onto to other types of exercise which will keep you strong read about the 3 types of exercise women need for ultimate health […]